For the first time since I got here yesterday, I can hear noise from inside the house. My housemates are downstairs and even though I really don’t want to, I should go down and at least introduce myself to them. Assuming we all pass our classes, we could be living together for the next four years, so I need to make an effort to at least be on a polite, friendly basis with them.

My mouth feels disgusting, so I brush my teeth and smooth down my hair. It used to be almost to my butt, but since I moved to my dad’s I had it cut off to my shoulders. I used to love my hair, now it’s just long enough to tie up and apart from occasionally straightening it, I rarely fuss with it.

I glance at my outfit. It’s a little rumpled from sleeping in it, but I really don’t care. If these people dislike me because I’m a little creased, then it’s just one more reason to stay away from them.

Grabbing my cell phone and key card, I slide my feet into flip-flops and head downstairs. The sound of music seems to be coming from the kitchen, so I slowly make my way toward it, not allowing the trepidation I’m feeling to send me running back upstairs to hide in my room. All I have to do is introduce myself, be polite for five minutes and then I can escape again.

When I step into the kitchen I spot someone leaning into the refrigerator. It looks like a guy and when he straightens, it’s obvious that it’s a he and he’s tall.

“Er, hey, I guess you’re one of my housemates,” I say.

The guy turns and my mouth falls open. “Hunter?” I gasp.

His smile is soft and despite his size, he’s never felt as dangerous as the others, even though I’m sure he could be. “Hello, Starling.”

“What…?” I trail off.

“You didn’t think we’d let you live all alone on a campus full of strangers did you, sis?” Evan says, stepping out from behind me and moving to take a bottle of beer from Hunter.

“We couldn’t get you to come home, so we thought we’d bring home to you,” Clay announces cheerfully as he steps past me.

“No,” I murmur, shaking my head. “You don’t go here.”

“What, Mom never told you?” Evan taunts. “Maybe if you’d spoken to her a bit more often she’d have mentioned that we decided to finish out our junior and senior years together.”

“All of us,” Clay says with a wink.

My hands ball into fists at my sides and I close my eyes, trying to make this a dream, or a nightmare or anything that means it’s not true. Except it is true, and no matter how tightly I squeeze my eyes shut when I open them, they’re all still going to be here and so is he, because when Clay said all of them, he meant him too.